Ester Reiter - A Future Without Hate or Need - The Promise of the Jewish Left in Canada

A FUTURE WITHOUT HATE OR NEED

Written with the right mix of respect, compassion, and critical reflection, this heartfelt history of the fascinating cultural world of the mostly Yiddish-speaking Jewish left in Canada and the talented and committed women, men, and children who lived it, brims with stories that will sadden, anger, inspire, enlighten, and, above all, stay with you. Through narratives relayed in oral interviews, journals, poems, political and folk songs, plays, womens readings, summer-camp performances, and more, we glimpse the heart and soul of an extraordinary cultural movement for social justice and social change.

Franca Iacovetta, Department of History, University of Toronto, author of Gatekeepers: Reshaping Immigrant Lives in Cold War Canada

A Future Without Hate or Need offers a deep examination of the culture and personalities of the Toronto Jewish radical left during its efflorescence. The Yiddish material, much of it drawn from Der Kamf, is superb. Passages translated from the original Yiddish are rarely-used sources that add strongly to Reiters argument that the principal focus of this movement was social/cultural rather than strictly ideological/political. This book is written with warm sympathy and penetrating insight.

Gerald Tulchinsky, Department of History, Queens University, author of Taking Root: The Origins of the Canadian Jewish Community

In her tenderly rendered recovery of the history of Canadas secular Jewish left, Ester Reiter excavates the contradictions and complexities that shaped Jewish identities and underpinned the Jewish lefts rich cultural life. Her inspiring account of the women, men, and children in the secular Jewish left immerses us in the radical vision of a more beautiful, better world that informed the activities, organizations, and culture of these twentieth-century Jewish radicals. Poetry, music, and theatre went hand in hand with politics in a movement that demonstrably challenges the bifurcated view of left/right divisions and reductive assessments of left movements. This books nuanced perspective on the Jewish ethnic left and its many contributions to North American society offers valuable insights on our collective past and makes an important contribution to the new scholarship on left history.

Julie Guard, Departments of History and Labour Studies, University of Manitoba

Warm-hearted, intimate, sometimes critical and always courageous, A Future Without Hate or Need offers twentieth-century Canadians a fresh understanding of the stalwart men, women, and children who championed and lived their own version of sotsyalizm (socialism). In summer camps and orchestras, city councils and schools, left-wing parties and cultural centres, Jewish leftists created a remarkably diverse and successful movementone that, through personal memoirs, skilful archival digging, and beautiful photographs and cartoons, Ester Reiter lovingly recreates for usin all its complicated glory.

Ian McKay, Wilson Chair of Canadian History, McMaster University

Ester Reiter

A FUTURE WITHOUT HATE OR NEED

The Promise of the Jewish Left in Canada

Between the Lines
Toronto

A Future without Hate or Need
2016 Ester Reiter

First published in 2016 by
Between the Lines
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Toronto, Ontario M5V 3A8
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be photocopied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of Between the Lines, or (for photocopying in Canada only) Access Copyright, 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5.

Every reasonable effort has been made to identify copyright holders. Between the Lines would be pleased to have any errors or omissions brought to its attention.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Reiter, Ester, author

A future without hate or need: the promise of the Jewish left in Canada / Ester Reiter.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-77113-016-5 (paperback).
ISBN 978-1-77113-017-2 (epub).
ISBN 978-1-77113-018-9 (pdf)

1. JewsCanadaPolitics and government. 2. Judaism and politicsCanadaHistory20th century. 3. Socialism and JudaismCanadaHistory20th century. 4. Communism and JudaismCanadaHistory20th century. 5. JewsCanadaHistory20th century. 6. JewsCanadaSocial life and customs. 7. CanadaEmigration and immigrationHistory20th century. 8. JewsMigrations. I. Title.

HX550.J4R45 2016 335.0089924071C2015-908225-0C2015-908226-9

Text and cover design by David Vereschagin/Quadrat Communications
Cover art by Avrom, courtesy Anna Yanovsky and UJPO Archives

We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing activities the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

To my family
not all of whom are biological relatives
and many of whom remain alive only in my heart:

the people I love and who love me back

Acknowledgements

The writing of this book has been a long journey, one with an arbitrary, not a clear ending. There is always more to learn. It is also very personal, as this history embodies many of the ideals that I hold dear. Along the way, there have been encounters with people, places, and writings that have enriched me.

This is a work that has relied on many people, contributing in many different ways. Roz Usiskins pioneering work on the history of Jewish radicalism in Winnipeg established a standard of thorough, thoughtful research that set a very high bar. She has helped in so many ways: advice, materials from her collection, and a contribution to the chapter on Democracy and Dissent, part of which we first presented together at a Canadian Jewish Studies conference. Maxine Hermolin, the executive director of the United Jewish Peoples Order, supported this research by providing complete access to the extensive UJPO materials in Torontos Winchevsky Centre. Ruth Grossman, a trained archivist, prepared visual PowerPoint histories of the community for several events we co-presented to the UJPO community. She is also organizing the materials for the UJPO Archives. Shlomit Segal helped with some of the images and made suggestions for the book. A special thanks goes to Drs. May (Lipshitz) Cohen and Gerry Cohen for the donation of Mays parents materials to the Clara Thomas Archives at York University. The Cohens also worked with the archivist Michael Moir in organizing the extensive collection of Sam and Manya Lipshitz.

A number of researchers contributed to this project. Michelle Cohen gave me the idea of studying and writing about a community I know well. She interviewed people from Naivelt as a summer project back in 1994. Mel Cederbaum, the executive director of the Workmens Circle in Toronto, provided materials from the early history of the WC. Amy Katz collected background materials on the Canadian Jewish community from the Globe and Mail. Sylwia Szymanska, who I met at YIVOs Yiddish seminar at Columbia University, helped organize and translate some of the materials in the Lipshitz archives. Sarah Pinder did some interviews in Montreal and transcribed many of the interviews that I had done. Sharon Power did many translations of